Roads - Pretty s***e to be honest...

[HannsG]

Need to get another CV joint fixed..

Driving down stafford road in Wolverhampon, you literally cant avoid the potholes.

What i've noticed is that when they come to fill them up. They spend days, thus slowing down the traffic. And are then back in 3-6 months reparing the same pothole. Surely there has to be another way to sort this out?

Why are councils not looking into this?

Seems to be loads of money for street signs and bollards...but nowt for road surfacing!

Edited by HannsG on Thursday 14th March 13:04

[hedgefinder]

plenty of money for bollards, , signs,speed calming junctions, speed humps, parking attendants, etc etc... bt its the same story all over, very limited funds spent by local authorities on actually keeping roads up to standard.
more like quick patch repairs that last weeks or months rather than correct resurfacing..

[ikarl]

Loads of talk of the government wanting to help the economy with social housing etc

my thoughts....fix the roads

Employ people to do it efficiently and to a high standard.
That would help business work better as traffic congestion should be less. Unemployment levels should go down dramatically (if we employ enough). Car damage shoudl be less (allowing me to spend my money in the UK rather than car parts made abroad!!!). Councils should be paying out less in compensation

etc

[Dodsy]

3-6 months ? try every few weeks! on the A43 there is a stretch of probably 400m that is all potholes. They come in every few weeks and fill them in. The patches are getting bigger and bigger. Potholes are usually back within 2 days. They are there so often they just leave the cones permanently by the side of the road now.

You can tell the locals as we all move into the outside lane for that bit - I do genuinely feel bad for the people tearing down the outside lane at 90+ when they come across me doing ~70 and nip up the inside and hit the potholes. Usually followed by hard braking and pulling in behind me or pulling over to the side of the DC to change the wheel.

[robinessex]

The outside lane of the M25 just south of Junction 27 (M11), clockwise carriage way, which was widened not a year ago to 4 lanes, is already pot holed. I noticed on the northern section when it was widened to 4 lanes last year, that it was not resurfaced, just patched and repaired. Not bad for £6B

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21770969

Edited by robinessex on Thursday 14th March 13:18

[kambites]

They're generally pretty good 'round here.

[EDLT]

They only do pot holes major roads and (eventually) bus routes around here. My civic has doughnut-like 195/65/15 tyres so I've managed to avoid punctures/buckled wheels.

[soad]

The ones near me were recently re-surfaced, no more potholes.

But in general, road surfaces are awful. Cracks, potholes, endless
digging by utility companies, poor quality patches.

[kambites]

soad said:

Pole friend mentioned it's much worse back home.

The roads in parts of Eastern Europe really are terrible. Some of Bulgaria's "trunk roads" are no better than dirt tracks.

[Viper_Larry]

Problem is the councils outsource the the cheapest contractor who does it as cheaply and quickly as possible, rather then doing a proper job.

[soad]

kambites said:

The roads in parts of Eastern Europe really are terrible. Some of Bulgaria's "trunk roads" are no better than dirt tracks.

That's true enough.

[beko1987]

There's a small stretch of road on my commute which has new potholes every day!

Several will appear, the 'works coming soon' signs will appear.
Several more will appear in the meantime.
Works start and fill in the ORIGINAL potholes
a few days later, more works signs appear
more potholes appear
2nd set get fixed
signs go up...

repeat ad-nauseum.

Then they leave the signs up for ages. Current one warns of works over night on the 8th march... there's new potholes now!

[soad]

Viper_Larry said:

Problem is the councils outsource the the cheapest contractor who does it as cheaply and quickly as possible, rather then doing a proper job.

This needs to change.

[kambites]

soad said:

Viper_Larry said:

Problem is the councils outsource the the cheapest contractor who does it as cheaply and quickly as possible, rather then doing a proper job.

This needs to change.

Go stand for your county council then, and do something about it.

[Seeker UK]

I routinely drive the A45 and A43 and they are shockingly bad. I'm surprised I haven't bent an alloy.

Note to self though - never buy anything on rims bigger than 17 unless it's a 4x4.

[Leins]

I quite like this :

[McSam]

Leins said:

I quite like this :

Ignores the fact that it's not and never has been called road tax, and it's not and never has been meant to be used on maintaining roads..

Agree with other sentiments here though, no excuse for some of the crap around my way.

[GC8]

McSam said:

Leins said:

I quite like this :

Ignores the fact that it's not and never has been called road tax, and it's not and never has been meant to be used on maintaining roads..

Agree with other sentiments here though, no excuse for some of the crap around my way.

It was definitely called Road Fund Licence, which implies that it is intended to fund the upkeep of the road network, dont you think?

[kambites]

GC8 said:

It was definitely called Road Fund Licence, which implies that it is intended to fund the upkeep of the road network, dont you think?

The road fund was abolished in 1937, so you are going back a bit there.

ETA: And it looks like even that wasn't used for maintenance; just construction of new roads.

[GC8]

You are correct of course, but the state has referred to it as RFL for decades following.

The direct connection has passed but the suggestion has been allowed to remain.